


Reverie

by TheBigBlackHat



Series: Mind Controlled!Clint Barton AU [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: AU, Don't even know why I wrote this, Evil!Clint, Heavy Angst, I just want to go cry now, I'm so sorry Natasha, I'm so sorry Phil, M/M, Mind Control
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-18
Updated: 2016-01-18
Packaged: 2018-05-14 20:39:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5758033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBigBlackHat/pseuds/TheBigBlackHat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Natasha never discovers "cognitive recalibration", and no one else thinks to try.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reverie

There's a man the Black Widow captured once. It's a good thing she was on hand- they would've had to shoot him otherwise. As it stands, they have to keep him locked away, hidden in the bowels of some unknown SHIELD building. 

He's not an evil man like most of the other creatures locked away in SHIELD's depths are. He was a good man once, in fact, though few remember it. But he has not been this man in a long, long time. It is not likely that he will ever be this man again.

It's a good thing he's already mad- he would've gone 'round the bend several years ago either way, what with the way they have to keep him locked up. He's locked in a cell the size of a small bedroom with only the barest amenities. Food and water is delivered twice a day via a chute in the wall. Anything that could be used to build a weapon is strictly prohibited, and most requests for visitation are denied.

There are only two people who have come to see him.

One is a woman; she visited only once, watched him as he sat, handcuffed, behind glass in the visitation chair, wearing an ugly smirk as he stared straight through her. He was mostly silent, though at one point he picked up the communicator and spoke these mocking words to her in a voice that was not his own: "Why Ms. Romanov, I thought you had said love was for children."

She left after that, and didn't return. She didn't know why she had come in the first place. It had already been declared a hopeless cause by that point. Countless doctors, scientists, Asgardians, even, had tried to fix the man. But the tesseract was all powerful in him. Not even Loki could undo the magic he had wrought. So they brought him here, along with the scientist, and locked them up. Here at least, they can do no damage.

There is one man that still visits. Unlike Natasha, he does not stay behind the glass in the visitation chamber. He sits in silence beside the prisoner and watches as the prisoner spits and yells profanities, fights against his restraints. Most often he sits and does paperwork, but occasionally he takes the prisoner's hand in his own, gently, lovingly, and holds it for a few minutes, being careful as he does so. He knows the prisoner would love nothing more than to crush the delicate bones if given the chance. 

Even more scarcely, he sits and does nothing but worry the delicate silver band encircling his ring finger. He only does this on the days when the prisoner is calm, when it seems that he is almost coming back to himself. The prisoner will sit straight up in the chair, glaring ferociously at the glass in front of him, lips moving quickly in silent patterns. His face screws up as if he is fighting off some great pain, and the man who sits next to him, the man they call Coulson, dares to hope.

But it has been eleven years. Clint Barton is not coming back.


End file.
